CHICAGO (AP) — The federal trial of R. Kelly, who was charged with creating child pornography and tampering with a 2008 child pornography trial, went to a jury on Tuesday after prosecutors and defense lawyers finalized the case. was given.
The day after the prosecutor gave his closing argument, Kelly’s lead attorney gave his closing argument. Jennifer Bonjean stood on the podium a few feet in front of the jury, and many key government witnesses, including some of the women who accused Kelly of sexually abusing her, have previously been charged with lying. He said he testified with immunity not to be…authorities.
Bonjean said she did not come to court in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago to tell the plain truth. in order to convey the
Among other things, she cited Kelly’s ex-girlfriend Lisa Van Allen, who testified about how she stole a sex tape from Kelly’s gym bag in the early 2000s. Pointing to Charles Freeman’s testimony, he told jurors to demand $1 million from Kelly in exchange for returning another sex tape that could incriminate the singer. Did.
Bonjean likened their testimony and other evidence to cockroaches, and the government’s claims to cockroach soup.
“Don’t just take out the cockroaches and eat the rest of the soup,” she said, referring to the prosecution’s case: “Too many cockroaches.”
Bonjean reminded jurors that he said in his opening statement that the government would rely on “perjurers, blackmailers and blackmailers,” and prosecutors did just that.
In a counter-argument, prosecutor Giannis Appenteng cited testimony showing Kelly’s skyrocketing fame around 1995, and his staff and colleagues increasingly matched everything Kelly wanted. It was
“Ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with a young girl,” she said.
Kelly was acquitted of charges including producing child pornography, seducing an underage girl to have sex, and obstructing justice for rigging a 2008 child pornography trial in state court. A jury was scheduled to begin deliberations late Tuesday.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Pozzolo told jurors in closing arguments Monday that she had weeks of evidence proving that the singer sexually abused a minor and used his fame to document the abuse on video. She described Kelly as a covert sexual predator.
“Robert Kelly abused many girls over the years,” said Pozzolo, referring to the 55-year-old Grammy winner by his full name. It came out. “
Bonjean said the closing arguments by Kelly’s co-defendants Derell McDavid and Milton Brown’s attorneys were based on the presumption that “the world now knows Mr. Kelly is a sexual predator.” I complained and twice on Monday demanded a miscarriage of justice.
“His presumption of innocence has been repealed,” Bonjean said. This meant Kelly never got a fair trial. Judge Harry Leinenweber denied the request.
After Bonjean makes closing arguments in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, prosecutors will have a brief opportunity to respond.
Known for her smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and sexually charged songs like “Bump n’ Grind,” Kelly sold millions of copies even after sexual misconduct allegations began to circulate in the 1990s. I sold an album. There was widespread outrage after the #MeToo reckoning and his 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly.
Kelly and McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, are accused of amending a 2008 trial by intimidating witnesses and paying money. Kelly’s former associate, Brown, has been accused of receiving child pornography.
Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June after another federal trial in New York, where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. A conviction on just a few of the 13 counts currently in force could add to his prison sentence.
Pozzolo focused much of her closing argument on a prominent government witness, the accuser, who identified herself as “Jane” and said she had sexually abused Kelly hundreds of times since she was 14.
“He degraded her for his own disgusting pleasure,” Pozzolo said.
She reminded jurors of graphic video footage they had seen of Jane testifying that a 30-year-old Kelly was abusing her when she was 14. A jury later said she had no choice but to acquit Kelly because Jane did not testify.
“Who does this? Who shoots a video like this with a 14-year-old kid?” she said, adding, “This guy. It’s Robert Kelly.”
Before Kelly’s trial in 2008, Pozzolo said, Kelly and his associates hurriedly restored several missing sex videos from a collection he often carried around in a large gym bag. .
In doing so, Kelly’s associates “tried to cover up the fact that R&B superstar R. Kelly was actually a sexual predator,” she said.
McDavid’s attorneys concluded by saying prosecutors would have to show that their client actually knew Kelly had abused Jane in the 2000s.
“They proved what he knew…behind reasonable suspicion?” asked Beau Brindley. “They didn’t.”
Pozzolo criticized the idea that abuse allegations could be credible after McDavid in the 2000s handed bags of cash to people who helped him recover the missing recordings and returned the videos. I hesitated at the idea that I didn’t have one at all.
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